PORT ANGELES — Dank Inc. of Port Angeles has had its Tier 2 cannabis producer/processor license suspended and thousands of plants seized due to “multiple violations of cannabis laws and criminal activity,” according to a press release from the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board.
The license will remain suspended for 180 days while the board seeks permanent revocation.
Tier 2 is a medium-sized licensed grower, with 2,000 to 10,000 square feet of growing space and includes about 1,000 growers in the state, said Brian Smith, director of communications for the state Liquor and Cannabis Board.
The emergency suspension follows a joint investigation with the Washington State Patrol’s Cannabis Enforcement Response Team resulting in findings of “serious violations of state cannabis laws,” the release stated.
Based on information arising from an investigation into criminal cannabis growing and distribution activity, a search warrant was issued in November for the business address, 12 N. Gales St. Suite A, of the licensee, Michael Green, it stated.
Law enforcement searched the location and discovered untagged cannabis plants as well as cannabis plants whose tags previously had been removed, both of which are violations of state cannabis laws to due to potential diversion to the black market.
About 5,000 cannabis plants were seized.
“We seized product due to them not being in the ‘traceability’ or the state’s seed-to-sale tracking system,” Smith wrote in an email. “Plants seized due to traceability violations are typically counted in the hundreds.”
Additionally, sometime between June 2021 and the present, Green violated the state’s “true party of interest/financier” law by allowing undisclosed and/or approved persons affiliated with a criminal enterprise to control the day-to-day operations and engaged and/or permitted criminal conduct, the news release stated.
In issuing the suspension, the board cited the seriousness of the violations and the licensee’s conduct — including traceability, true party of interest, criminal conduct and probable diversion into the illegal cannabis market — plus the likelihood the licensee will commit these violations in the future.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at brian.gawley@soundpublishing.com.
